We recently connected with Rocky Walls and have shared our conversation below.

Rocky, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I was just talking about this on a podcast the other day. The host asked about success in filmmaking, saying something like, “What’s it take to be successful, you know, get that big streaming deal with Netflix or get your movie in theaters across the country?” He admitted that he didn’t really know the industry, and he unintentionally demonstrated a really important key to understanding success – that we get to define what it means to us. In my case, for example, a nationwide theatrical release or a deal with Netflix isn’t my goal, so it’s not a measure of success. I think, as entrepreneurs or creative people, we sometimes fall victim to measuring ourselves up to someone else’s idea of success. It’s important, then to set aside time to really consider what success means to you and plan for how you’ll achieve it.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My “dayjob” is filmmaking. Although I have ownership stake in a few companies and I’m the cofounder and executive director of a non-profit organization, I spend the majority of my time telling stories through film. I got into filmmaking via a very winding road – starting out as a molecular biology major in college, leaving that to pursue full-time youth ministry, and ultimately becoming an entrepreneur. There’s a whole keynote presentation that I’ve given to middle and high school students many times, but the short version is that all along I had a passion for storytelling and just didn’t know it. That’s why I always tell people (especially students) to get out there and try as many things as you can. Until you test some things out, you’re not likely to discover your true calling.

I love witnessing, listening to and shaping the stories of real people I meet, which is why documentary film is so inspiring to me. At 12 Stars Media, the production company I cofounded with my best friend Zach Downs in 2007, we say that we tell the stories of interesting characters who inspire communities to make positive changes. We’ve done that with several documentaries and, most recently, even extended that intention to a narrative fiction film, Dirty Laundry.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Zach Downs, my cofounder, is also my brother-in-law (on my wife’s side) and best friend. In 2007, when we started the business, I was 23 years old but he was just 16! He’s always been mature for his age, and very smart. For example, he’s custom built nearly every computer we’ve used (dozens at this point) since we started the company.

I often say this is my best and worst piece of advice. Find a cofounder. It is so much easier said than done, and I’ve heard so many horror stories that make me cringe at the idea of even suggesting this. But, not all cooperatively run companies are doomed to violent splitting up of cofounders. My cofounder, Zach Downs, and I balance each other perfectly. He is steady and determined. He trusts slowly, while I trust everyone immediately. He helps us stay on track with practicality, when I would chase every new idea and never finish any of them. If you are lucky, blessed, or stupid enough (which ever it may be) to find a cofounder who balances you, this is my number one recommendation.

Have you ever had to pivot?

It was just me and Zach for the first few years. We hired our first employee in 2011. We grew rapidly after that, with a 400% increase in revenue from 2010 to 2011. By 2015, we had 15 employees and kicked off the year by taking the entire team to Disney World to kick off our theme for that year — “Become the best at what we do.” By 2017, when we produced our first feature-length documentary, Finding Hygge, we were approaching 25 employees and never saw a decrease in revenue year over year. But…

In many ways we were miserable.

Zach and I had never really stopped to consider when enough was enough. As simple as it sounds, we never considered whether we should STOP growing or even scale back. After Finding Hygge, we became a lot more introspective and starting asking ourselves things like, “When were we most happy with our work?”

Over the next few years we gradually reduced the size of our team to under ten. We moved out of our leased, “tech startup” style office space and bought a 140-year-old building full of charm (and equity potential). And we started to narrow our focus exclusively to documentary storytelling. All of these things aligned with our now-clearer vision of success and everyone has been much happier.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rockywalls.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rockywalls
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rockywalls/